In September, I had the opportunity to speak at the Webmaster Jam Session, in Dallas, Texas and was fortunate to meet Derek Featherstone. Derek travels the globe as a premier expert speaker on web accessibility, and was the closing keynote speaker at the conference. As expected, he gave a fascinating talk on real-world accessibility design for the web. I knew I had to pull him aside for an interview!

Derek and I spoke about how accessibility is an often downplayed, yet critical aspect of web design. We discussed:

• Accessibility is more than vision-impaired and screen reader access. What about mobility issues with touchscreens and people who use mouth and head wands?
• Does achieving technical compliance actually result in a usable design for a user?
• Can personas assist in designing for accessibility?
• Updated browsers and standards-based code: how are they helping today?
• The W3C Accessibility Checklist: Is it a goal for designers or just a starting point?

Derek has a lot to teach all of us. I think you’ll find our talk enjoyable and informative!

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